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Placide Morency, performer (1887-1980)
Born in Québec City in 1887, baritone Placide Morency had an active career in the Québec region. He frequently performed with his wife Fernande Pelletier, and his brother Laurent Morency. He performed with both of them in the operetta Les Maris de Ginette, by Félix Fourdrain, performed in January 1918 at the Auditorium de Québec and in April at the Monument National in Montréal. On February 4, 1921, he played Florestan de Valaincourt in Véronique by André Messager at the Auditorium de Québec. The baritone also performed with Honoré Vaillancourt's Société canadienne d'opérette in the 1920s. Between 1922 and 1930, Morency recorded more than 50 songs for the Starr company. This included religious songs ("Le Crucifix", "Adeste fideles", "L'Angélus", "Vers son sanctuaire"), operatic arias (Carmen, I Pagliacci, Manon, Le Cid, Le Roi d'Ys, Jocelyn), operettas (Les Cloches de Corneville, La Mascotte) and lyric works, such as those of Massenet, Chaminade, Toselli and Tosti. But this classically trained performer also performed a repertoire of French 'variétés', consisting of songs by Henri Christiné and Charles Borel-Clerc, and of French versions of American hits ("Dans les sentiers du souvenir., "Tout seul", "Toujours"), frequently written by Roméo Beaudry. With his wife, Fernande Pelletier and his brother Laurent, Placide Morency also recorded duets of airs from the operettas Véronique, La Mascotte, Mireille and Xavière. He died in Quebec in 1980. For more information on Placide Morency's recordings, please consult the Virtual Gramophone database. Robert Thérien, music researcher, Montréal |
